‘Fundamental’ | Data-driven gender equality: How businesses are driving long-term progress beyond IWD 2025

International Women’s Day, for many, is a day of contrasts.

On the one hand, it is consistently encouraging to see how many individuals and organisations openly share personal experiences, offer advice to their peers, and drive meaningful conversations about how we can create a world – as is this year’s #IWD theme – of rights, equality, and empowerment for ALL women and girls.

Many institutions also use the date as a point of momentum to highlight crucial research into the key issues stunting progress. Anything that opens the door for conversations to happen is not to be sniffed at.

On the other hand, each passing IWD serves as a reminder of how far we have to go in closing the gender pay gap. It brings home the ongoing prevalence of issues ranging from harassment and stereotyping; to career barriers including childcare responsibilities and bias; to specific issues such as pregnancy and maternity discrimination.